Apple outperforms NASDAQ by widest margin in 20 years

Apple doesn’t just bounce back. It bounces back in a way that makes everyone who doubted it feel slightly foolish. The iPhone maker is outperforming the NASDAQ by its widest margin in two decades, a feat that seemed improbable just a year ago when the prevailing narrative cast Apple as the tech giant most likely to be left behind by the AI revolution. With shares closing at $333.02 on July 24, 2026, and year-to-date returns sitting at roughly 22%, the stock has lapped the S&P 500’s modest 8% gain by a comfortable margin. On July 17, Apple reclaimed its title as the world’s most valuable public company, overtaking Nvidia with a market capitalization of approximately $4.88 trillion. That’s not a typo. Nearly $5 trillion, or roughly the GDP of Japan. The last time Apple held that crown was April 2025, before Nvidia’s AI-fueled surge temporarily pushed it aside. From AI laggard to market leader Twelve months ago, Apple was the cautionary tale. The company that supposedly missed the AI boat while Nvidia, Microsoft, and others were building the future. Analysts questioned whether Siri would ever catch up. The company’s services business has been a quiet engine of this revaluation. Wh...